Boston Breaks Snowfall Record With An Amazing Finish

Congratulations, Boston, you broke your all-time seasonal snowfall record on Sunday. Moreover, that record understates the snowy punch you got this year.

The snow in Boston this winter came all at once, in a blitz from late January through February. The previous record holder, the 1995-96 season, saw its snow spread out throughout the winter.

Comparing the two seasons, we see that 1995-96 actually had a higher seasonal snowfall on 86 of the 122 days from Nov. 13 through March 15. In the aftermath of the “Blizzard of 1996” on Jan. 7 and 8 and a small storm immediately following it, the 1995-96 season had a seemingly insurmountable 60-inch lead on the 2014-15 season. That lead was erased when 64.4 inches fell in a two-week period between Jan. 24 and Feb. 9 of this year. The 2014-15 season never gave up the seasonal snowfall lead after that point.

Harry Enten is a senior political writer and analyst for FiveThirtyEight. @forecasterenten